


Part One: Neal, Peter, Diana

by thingswithwings



Series: Some Companions the Doctor Never Had [1]
Category: Doctor Who (1963), White Collar
Genre: Caper Fic, Chromatic Character, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-05-05
Updated: 2011-05-05
Packaged: 2017-10-24 05:14:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/259389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thingswithwings/pseuds/thingswithwings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Three and Sarah Jane meet Neal, Peter, and Diana.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Part One: Neal, Peter, Diana

Neal gets as close to lot 481 as the velvet ropes will allow. "It's beautiful."

"Yeah, I never went in much for modern art," Peter says. Diana grins that grin that says she'd poke him in the ribs if he weren't her boss.

"That's not what you say when Elizabeth's around," she points out.

"Well, Agent Berrigan, there are some things a man has to do to maintain a happy marriage, and – "

"Nobody's buying it, Peter," Neal says, without taking his eyes off the art. "I know you love it. Come on, it's a near-perfect replica of a British police box from the fifties, except the phone isn't hooked up to anything, and in fact these boxes were discontinued decades ago; once it's placed within a museum setting, it provides a powerful critique of institutional power and the manner in which public services are gradually removed from the public's hands."

"And here I was led to believe that it blended in," says a new voice behind them. Peter, Neal, and Diana all turn to see a petite woman in an attractive, slightly seventies-retro pantsuit. Neal admires the style.

"Neal Caffrey," he says, holding out a hand.

She takes it. "Sarah Jane Smith. Pleased to meet you, Mr Caffrey." Her accent is even crisper than her collar, which is saying something.

"Miss Smith, allow me to present Agents Peter Burke and Diana Berrigan."

"Very well," she says, and now she's smiling, "present away."

"Nice to meet you, ma'am," Peter says, shaking her hand brusquely. Diana follows suit, looking amused. "Neal, I know you'd like to stop and talk with all the art people, but we have a lead to follow up on, so – "

"Oh, I'm not an art person, Agent Burke," Sarah Jane Smith says. "But I do represent the owner of this piece."

Just then a man comes jogging up to them, velvet cape trailing behind him, and if Neal thought the woman was working a retro style, she's got nothing on this guy. Neal can't decide whether the ruffles are brilliant or hugely misguided. He's leaning towards misguided.

"Sarah!" he yells, as he approaches. "Did you find it?"

"It's right here, Doctor," she says, and gestures at lot 481.

"Wait a minute," Diana says, "you own this piece?" She stares for a moment, then, when he attempts to push past her, bars his forward motion with a hand on his chest. "Are you aware that it's currently an object of interest in a criminal investigation?"

At the other end of the gallery, there are noises that Neal associates with kerfuffles, noises of people gasping in surprise and buffet tables being shoved out of the way. He's not sure, but he thinks he sees several heads wearing feathered caps bobbing through the crowd. Everyone's retro today.

"Unfortunately, that's not the only kind of interest that it draws." He grimaces, glancing around as if for backup. "Miss, you must let me pass, come along now – " Diana raises an eyebrow and puts a hand on her gun.

"Doctor," Miss Smith says, "I think it's coming up on three o'clock." She gives him a glare. "Three o'clock! I think we're already too late. You may need to confide in someone if we're going to have any luck in this time period. And these people are police, I believe."

Across the room, the kerfuffle noises are getting louder, and Neal sees something that looks suspiciously like a broadsword sticking up above the heads of the crowd.

But his attention is soon distracted, because in front of them, lot 481 begins to . . . shimmer. Or possibly fade. As Neal stares at it, it begins to make a noise, too, like a front door key being dragged down a length of piano wire.

"All right, listen," the man – the Doctor – says. He puts up his hands and backs away from Diana. "That is not a piece of art, or at least it's not a piece of art in any traditional sense, which is to say, it's my time machine and it's currently slipping around in space and occasionally time. Which is to say, some thieves are attempting to steal it, but I've put the parking brake on, so it's slow going for them."

"Thieves?" says Neal.

"Time machine?" says Diana. She hasn't taken her hand off her gun.

"Uh, Doctor – " says Miss Smith, tugging at the Doctor's voluminous sleeve and looking anxiously across the crowd to where the feathered caps are getting ever closer.

"I believe that it's currently anchored in time but not in space, which means that if we can find it within the next four hours or so we should be able to catch it before it shifts to another time period. I require the use of some local resources in order to do so."

Peter looks as if he wants to say something about how this is all ridiculous, but like Neal he keeps getting distracted by the spectre of lot 481, which is now completely transparent and fading fast.

"You've got to teach me that trick," Neal breathes, as the police box disappears completely from view. He reaches past the ropes, to the place where it was just a moment ago, and his fingers encounter only air.

"Doctor!" Miss Smith shouts. An arrow whizzes above their heads, but not so high above their heads as to be negligible.

"Oh yes," the Doctor adds, "and we're currently being pursued by the Society for Creative Anachronism. Would you be so kind as to offer some assistance?"

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[Podfic] Companions the Doctor Never Had: Neal, Peter and Diana](https://archiveofourown.org/works/786694) by [kalakirya](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kalakirya/pseuds/kalakirya)




End file.
